


RDR2 Ranch AU

by What_is_fanart_even



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games), Red Dead Redemption 2
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, Family Bonding, Fix-It, Found Family, Gen, Happy Ending, I killed off micah youre welcome, Minor Violence, Multi, Other, Period Typical Bigotry, everyone lives except micah, ranch au, van der linde gang - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:20:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 20,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28186779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/What_is_fanart_even/pseuds/What_is_fanart_even
Summary: A fix-it AU for Red Dead Redemption 2, that diverges from canon in chapter 2.All chapters were originally posted on my Tumblr @irishmacguirefucker, so it's a collection of headcanons and one-shots about each of the characters and their lives on a ranch. Everyone lives and gets to be happy except Micah, and ships are up for everyone's own interpretation, I only focused on the ones that were canon.
Relationships: Karen Jones/Sean MacGuire, Molly O'Shea/Dutch van der Linde
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	1. Ranch AU general information

**The Setting** : A ranch just like Beechers Hope but bigger. The main house is 3 stories with an attic and a cellar. Cattle, Sheep, Pigs, + Dogs, cats, and rescues*. The gang lives spread out between the large main house and various small cabins. 

**The Main house:**

_On the first floor:_

  * Master Bedroom (Dutch/Molly), Main office, Large study/library, Sitting room with fireplace-opens to the dining room, Kitchen, Pantry, Mudroom and Entrance.



_Second Floor:_

  * _Medium bedroom (Grimshaw), Medium Bedroom(Hosea), Small Bedroom(Karen), Small Bedroom(Mary Beth), Small Bedroom(Tilly), wrap balcony_



_Third Floor:_

  * Medium bedroom(Pearson), Medium bedroom (Javier), Small bedroom (bill), small bedroom (Sean), small bedroom (Lenny), Wrap Balcony.



_Attic:_ Non-food storage. Extra clothing, sentimental items, etc

 _Cellar:_ Extra dried/canned food, spices, Alcohol, Emergency food. Soaps and candles, blankets. 

**The Cabins:**

  * _The Marstons:_ They have the biggest of the cabins. It's the only one of the cabins with a second floor, that’s where Uncle lives.
  * _Arthur Morgan:_ Has the cabin closest to the actual house for all Dutch's bossy needs, and also for his own peace of mind. He has all the same stuff he had in his tent but with a better bed and heating.
  * _Charles Smith:_ He has the cabin furthest from the main house so that he can enjoy the quiet. It’s not that far, it’s just last on the line of cabins. 
  * _Sadie Adler: Sadie has targets painted on hay bales around the back of her cabin. Though the gang is far safer now, she still practices on her own. Usually just with throwing knives and tomahawks. She has a photo of her late husband hung in the cabin._
  * _Leopold Strauss:_ His cabin has a large desk and a bookshelf full of ledgers, files, etc. The most important paperwork is checked and taken care of by him before being stored safely elsewhere.
  * _Kieran:_ He has the smallest of the houses. Branwyn manages to get out of the stable often and ends up here every time. 



* * *

**The Land:** Located in roughly the same place as Beecher’s hope. The main house has a long path before it reaches the road, with the cabins along this road. The land stretches mostly behind and around the sides of the house.

**The Livestock:**

  * Around 40 chickens. They are for eggs only and aren’t raised for meat.
  * 20 Cows for beef and milk
  * 10 pigs for pork (real sized pigs, not the itty bitty ones like in-game)
  * 10-15 Sheep for wool
  * 7 sheepdogs + Cain and Rufus
  * All camp horses
  * Various Rescued Animals



**The crops: Various vegetables and fruits growing in a family-sized garden. Not huge enough to really make a profit but it keeps everyone fed with extra for canning and preserving.**

  * Corn
  * Wheat
  * Apples
  * Tomatoes
  * Cucumber
  * Summer Squash
  * Etc



**Separate spice garden (more detailed information in later chapters):**

  * American Ginseng
  * English Mace
  * Blackcurrent
  * Indian Tobacco
  * Oregano
  * Yarrow
  * Desert Sage
  * Hummingbird Sage



* * *

**Jobs:** Listed are the jobs they do the most, but as we all know; the whole gang helps each other. (Almost) everyone chips in on a bit of everything for the most part. 

**Arthur**

  * Manages livestock
  * Manages Horses
  * Travels to town most often (for all types of trips)



**Dutch**

  * Still the “Leader”
  * Delegates jobs
  * Takes the more important town trips for business 

**Hosea**

    * Manages the herb garden
    * Manages Dutch
    * Group Dad Duties(™)
    * Takes the more important town trips for business
    * Teaching Jack

**John**

    * Manages Livestock
    * Takes town trips that don’t involve a lot of social interaction
    * Structure upkeep

**Abigail**

    * Manages the crops
    * Helps with general housework
    * Raising Jack

**Sadie**

    * Manages crops (less)
    * Manages Livestock (more)
    * Upkeep and building of structures

**Javier**

    * Manages Livestock
    * Manages Horses
    * Town trips

**Charles**

    * Manages Livestock
    * Manages Horses
    * Manages any animals he’s rescued*
    * Upkeep of buildings
    * Builds all new structures

**Bill**

    * Livestock Management
    * Upkeep of structures
    * Manages the dogs

**Sean**

    * Some Town Trips
    * Cleaning stables
    * Helps with the dogs

**Lenny**

    * Some town trips
    * Livestock management
    * Helps with teaching Jack (and Sean) to read

**Lenny**

    * Some town trips
    * Livestock management
    * Helps with teaching Jack to read

**Kieran**

    * Manages Horses (does the most of anyone in that area)
    * Manages Livestock
    * Cleaning Stables

**Tilly**

    * Manages Crops
    * General Housework
    * Helps with the Chickens

**Karen**

    * Manages Crops
    * Trips into town
    * Housework

**Mary Beth**

    * Manages Crops
    * Housework
    * Helps with milking cows

**Molly**

    * Housework
    * She likes to take care of the barn cats

**Ms. Grimshaw**

    * General Management of the main house and jobs
    * Housework
    * Pearson
    * Cooking
    * Management of stocks and supplies

**Trelawny**

    * Manages most of their business outside of New Austin

**Strauss**

    * Accounting
    * Bookkeeping

**Uncle**

    * Freeloading
    * Lumbago




	2. Why and how did they start the ranch?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A brief introduction to how things really got started. Most of the things mentioned here are described in better detail later

The choice to start the ranch and stop being a “gang” was the result of a few things. First, it was the botched job in Blackwater. Dutch killed innocent Heidi McCourt, planting the first seed of distrust within the gang. Then in the escape, they lost Sean and the gravely injured Mac, and John, Davey and Jenny were both injured. Then Jenny died, of course, followed by Davey. The next big push into the decision was the time spent in the mountains. The cold and the difficulty of survival made many members of the gang think long and hard about their life as gang members, especially now that Hosea and Dutch seem to be fighting over whether or not Dutch's plans will work out. At this point they are cold, they are tired, and they have lost what they assume is 4 members of their family. But they kept on. They gained Sadie Adler due to Micah’s stupidity and they gained Kieran. You all know how things go until they get to Horseshoe Valley. But this is where things start to change in my AU. 

Horseshoe Valley is good for everyone, they continue to commit crimes as usual. But Hosea is contacted by the elder brother of his late wife Bessie. He wrote that he feared he would die soon, and his property would be sold to the government since he had no other family left in the area. His daughter lives in new york and she doesn’t want it. He’s going to go live with his daughter and get to know his grandchildren before he passes. But he doesn’t want the ranch he and Bessie grew up on in anyone else’s possession so he asks Hosea to do what Bessie would do. Who Bessie would give the farm to. 

The deed was to 55 Acres of land in New Austin. A beautiful 3 story ranch house with all the facilities to keep cattle, chickens, pigs, sheep, and horses. The man had sold all his livestock so that he could make it to see his family and then give the money to his daughter as a gift for letting him live with her. Hosea never told anyone, he was going to keep the deed for a while and sell it when the gang was in need. 

The Van Der Linde gang was being hunted and they all knew it. However, they tried to ignore it and tried to believe in Dutch. But with the unfortunate loss of so many members of their family at once was weighing on them. They were having trouble getting money and getting food, and they knew that gangs all over America were being wiped out around them. Arthur and Hosea would talk about how bad it was getting, and more than once members of the gang would tell Hosea that they just want to be loyal. They want to be safe again but they would never leave their family. The final straw was at the fault of Micah. 

When Arthur went to retrieve Micah in Strawberry he ended up discussing the jailed outlaw with the sheriff. He was going to get the man drunk and then get Micah out Hosea style, but when he spoke to that drunk sheriff he learned a lot. The sheriff revealed that the Pinkertons had been by and spoke with him and that he was part of a famous gang. With further prompting, the sheriff dropped the bomb that Micah was a rat. The Pinkertons had come to Strawberry to take Micah away because they knew who he was but offered him a deal. They would let him wait here to be saved and then continue feeding Pinkertons information, or they could haul him off to Siska and hang him before the gang even noticed he was gone. And so Arthur thanked the wasted lawman for his time and left Strawberry without the rat. 

When he got back and talked to Dutch and Hosea, he shared that Micah had told the law everything he knew and planned to come back as a rat. They knew very well that Micah knew far too much and finally Hosea knew what he was going to do with that land. With Dutch and Arthur there, he explained everything about his brother in law, and then he let them know *his* plan.

Hosea wanted the gang safe, even if that meant not being a gang anymore. He had been the shoulder to cry on for Lenny, who missed young Jenny. For Karen, who drunkenly admitted that she might be in love with Sean but never told him. For Tilly, who was terrified her old gang would find her again and she would be back where she was when she was 12. And for many others, who felt so broken by the last few months. His plan was to start collecting as much money as they can and use it to pay off their bounties and move to the ranch. To buy a few heads of cattle, take their chicken, buy some pigs and sheep, and start that ranch up again. 

Dutch thought it was crazy. Arthur agreed, but the look of hope in the blonde’s eyes was enough to see what he really thought. Dutch was angry, he was so so angry that Hosea would suggest this after everything they had been through. He even threw it back in Hosea’s face that he had tried to live the regular life, that Hosea couldn’t do it. That insult was the last straw.

He told Dutch that if he didn’t do this, he was going to die alone on a hill made from the bodies of this gang. People were going to leave him behind because they all know that the age of gangs and crime is over. Or worse, they would be loyal to him and they would die for it. Dutch would be responsible for the deaths of everyone in this camp. And with Dutch still stunned by the older man’s outburst, Arthur spoke up. He thought they could do it, and he would follow Hosea if that’s what would secure the safety of his new family. That’s what finally drilled it into Dutch’s head that this is the only option. His orphan son, who he had rescued off the streets at fourteen, was willing to leave him behind for this new plan. 

The first person they let into the new plan was surprisingly Strauss. While Hosea was sure they could figure it out, he needed to know just how realistic he was being here. He knew they would need to figure out what their collective bounties were and how they were going to pay that off. Strauss did a little math and a little research. Dutch himself had a $5000 bounty in New Austin. Hosea had around $2000 on his head, and everyone else (including Arthur) altogether was around $2000 max. They were lucky that many of the members were unidentified, meaning they were without bounties. Strauss told them they would need to get around $9000 dollars, and then another $500-$1000 to get the ranch started based on his estimations.

Getting the money would be hard if they kept the plan to themselves. The next people the three men told were Susan and John. They would need to start brainstorming ideas on how to get the money. Arthur was going to enlist the help of Javier and Charles to track down every treasure hidden across the map. John would start asking around towns for small jobs, legal ones. People who needed help building things, finding people, etc. Susan would have the girls get as much information as they could about possible leads with fake stories about their deadbeat husbands needing jobs to support their children or stories about wanting honest work for themselves to avoid becoming a prostitute. Everyone would have to pitch in, the only issue with this is that they couldn’t tell everyone yet, lest something go wrong and they can’t do it.

As they were collecting the money and saving, the gang was beginning to get suspicious. They were all working far harder and far more than usual for no apparent reason. Dutch was sending them to do legal work which was extremely odd, and the money they were earning was just sitting around waiting to be spent. Dutch knew he would have to tell them what was happening eventually, but he didn’t know how. He would have to tell the gang that they were no longer going to be a gang. That he was ending the life of crime they knew but expecting them to follow him into a new one. 

When they found Sean again, alive, spirits were high. They had his welcome home party and everyone celebrated. But Dutch was the first to see the toll that months of time spent with the bounty hunters had done to the man. He had new scars that he was hiding from his family, he was missing a tooth that he definitely had when he left. He had been tortured for months, and no matter how well he hid it, Dutch knew it was time for his gang to be safe again. Not long after the welcome party, many of the individual members knew. Charles learned from Arthur, Sean overheard a discussion between Hosea and Arthur and eventually told Karen, Susan learned from Dutch, etc. Soon Dutch was ready to tell the gang. And then Arthur ran into the Pinkertons when he was fishing with Jack and it really was the right time to say it. They moved to the new spot near Rhodes at Dutch’s insistence, if it were up to Hosea they would have up and left for the ranch instead but there were still a few things to be finalized. Once they were safe once more, Dutch made a speech. Arthur had let everyone know that Mac was dead, but hadn’t ratted them out and that Micah was dead too and he had been a rat, not long after he found out. And then he nudged Dutch forward to tell everyone what their new life could be. 

Dutch told them the whole plan, told them that they would be safer and they would be happier, but they had to trust him. And if they couldn’t trust him, they could trust Hosea. The gang is loyal, many of them were saved by Dutch and even with their uncertainty, they chose to go with him to this new life. And so in the next 2 months or so, they had enough money to pay their bounties. The Pinkertons would have to leave them alone, provided they played by the law. So they all travelled to New Austin to live on a ranch, and become more of a family than a gang. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looking back, I can see that ive very much improved since i posted this back in march. Im still proud of it, but i really didn't consider myself a writer back then lol.


	3. The Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur Morgan focused. Written in march so it's not amazing.

  * Arthur liked the idea of the ranch from the beginning but felt like voicing that would be betraying Dutch. But like a true father, Hosea could tell that Arthur wanted it, and as much as he wished he could deny it, Dutch could see it too.
  * When Hosea first revealed the idea to Arthur and Dutch, the first thing Arthur did was scan the camp. It was mostly a habit, to see if anyone else had heard Hosea’s words.
  * The first person he saw was Jack, building a castle out of sticks and leaves in front of Lenny who was reading him a story. The scene was one he had seen before, but now just looking at the boy made it impossible to decline the idea of a better life for them.
  * He took a while to think of the others in camp. The younger of the adults, Lenny, Tilly Sean, Mary Beth, all so deserving of a chance at safety and stability. Grimshaw, who he has the utmost respect for, she deserved a warm bed and a room to herself. So many members who had been running their whole lives and had found a home in the gang, all deserving of a real home with four walls and a roof.
  * This plan would be so good for his family, he didn’t care much how he lived, he just wanted to build these people a home.
  * Arthur did the majority of the legwork to get the bounty funds. He managed to find the Jack Hall treasures, the gold bars stashed among ruined towns, jewelry left behind in abandoned houses, anything he could. He would also take odd jobs for people (i.e the guy stealing money from the foreman, the rats in the bar, etc.) to earn money. And even though they were all desperately trying to avoid higher bounties, he would still earn money in the less lawful ways. Whatever it took for them to get there.
  * He would never say it out loud, he wouldn’t want to break Hosea’s heart (or receive the slap to the face he would get for saying something so stupid.), but there’s a page in his journal where he admits that if him hanging is the only way for the rest of his family to make it, he would do it happily.
  * Arthur hardly took his share when they did jobs. He would take a small amount for emergencies but most of his share went into the box. Even the small bit he took he felt bad for, and would rarely even buy necessities, relying on hunting and foraging for what he really needs.
  * Arthur was honestly amazed when he saw the Ranch for the first time. It’s a huge property and a huger house, and it made him worry that maybe they couldn’t handle it. Nobody really had the first-hand experience of running a ranch beside Sadie, and her ranch was far smaller.
  * Before they had the money and resources to build the extra cabins, the house was a little cramped. Fortunately, they were used to it, and it was almost more space than usual anyway, and this one had bathrooms. everyone was more than happy to share the house.
  * Arthur chose to sleep on the sofa in the living room, despite its size. Only in his journal would he admit that it was so he could see both entrances to the house, and protect the others should someone break-in.
  * In the first few weeks of staying in the house, Arthur was very adamant that everyone locks their windows and draws their curtains, and would walk around the main floor checking every door and window lock.
  * For a while, they still had a rotation of guards, but they would just sit on one of the upper balconies with rifles. Eventually, they lowered it to just one guard, then just nighttime guards, and it remained that way for a long while before anyone felt safe enough to have nobody guarding at all.




	4. Learning and Adjusting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or Alternatively, Dutch learns to have some respect and love his family right. Also goes to the ranch and stuff

  * Dutch Van der Linde is very set in his ways. And why wouldn’t he be, he’s got the best seat in the house. He’s the leader of a successful gang. Or he was.
  * Obviously, he was reluctant to do it. It took a lot of Arthur pleading and Hosea presenting him with the harsh realities he was avoiding.
  * Hosea had to tell Dutch that some of his people were losing trust in him. Not faith, not allegiance to him, just trust. That was extremely hard to hear, he thought that they trusted him with their lives, and up until recently, that fact was true. But now things were too uncertain and Dutch was becoming dangerous to more than just his enemies.
  * When the plan to leave the gang life and start a ranch was introduced to the rest of the gang, he was the one to do it in one of the most grandeur speeches of his time. Only Dutch Van der Linde could have gotten a gang of tried and true criminals to abandon the life he sold them for the life of domesticated people, civilization in its modern form.
  * People were unsure of the plan, but one of Dutch’s greatest skills is of course convincing people that any plan is a great plan. Abating uncertainty is his specialty and anybody who was feeling unsure could come to him and he would lay out the future they were going to have. He made it sound like the absolute lap of luxury, steady income, bedrooms, beds, safety. Everything they could want for the price of easier and less life-threatening work than they were already doing
  * Despite all this, he can still be a very selfish man. When they finally had enough money to pay his bounty, as well as everyone else’s, he almost didn’t go through with it. After all his preaching about how great it would be, he had to face the harsh reality of what it would really be. He would be giving up the most money they had ever had, enough to go through with any escape plan he could dream of. And they wanted him to give it up to the god damned government.
  * He tried to tell Hosea all of that. They could take the money and escape, head west, or across the ocean, or wherever Hosea wanted to go and they could keep on with their life, their gang. It had been Hosea’s passion once too, maybe they could still have that!
  * Hosea nearly broke his nose.
  * At this point, Hosea and Arthur had to tell him that if he wanted to stay a criminal that’s fine, he could take the money from his bounty and leave, but they were going to the ranch. And they would likely take more than half the gang with them.
  * Dutch was angry with Arthur and Hosea for a long while, until a few days after they started staying at the ranch. Seeing how happy everyone was, and how successful Hoseas planning was turning out for them was hard to take for his ego.
  * Fortunately, even while Dutch was angry that Hosea and Arthur would go against him that way, he never faltered in front of the rest of the gang. He’s a very smart man and a very good leader. It was unsure times, and if he lost face in front of them then things would fall apart.
  * Once they were at the ranch, it was a lot of quick planning to get everyone situated. Luckily this is where his leadership skills come in handy. He quickly deemed (upon discussion with the mentioned people) that he would have the main floor bedroom with Ms. O’Shea, and then Ms. Grimshaw and Hosea would have the larger bedrooms on the second floor.
  * This left one large bedroom, and 6 smaller bedrooms. Dutch offered that the larger bedroom on the third floor be given to Arthur, but the man declined. The prospect of soon building cabins was an exciting one and Arthur would be taking one of those when they were done, but for now, Arthur suggested that the girls share the large 3rd-floor bedroom until they had the facilities to start that project.
  * Dutch, Hosea, and Grimshaw mediated the rest of the arguments over bedrooms.
  * The first night in the Ranch, hardly anyone slept. There was too much change for them to just sleep. Dutch was not exempt from that. Hosea found him smoking a cigar on the front porch and that was where they both remained until morning.
  * They did make a little conversation;
  * Hosea spoke first, “Lenny, Sean and Javier have all made their way into the girl’s room, I reckon they’ll all be sleeping in piles until they get settled here proper.”. Dutch chuckled at the thought. “I reckon you just might be right my friend, those young ones always did stick together. And they’re young enough that sleeping on the floor won’t kill their backs.” They laughed together at the thought.
  * Eventually, they fell into a comfortable silence. When the sun rose and camp members began to stir within the house, Dutch finally saw the light. Saw the promise in this plan for real, and realized what he almost ruined for his people.
  * As he walked back into the house he patted Hosea on the shoulder. “This is a damn good plan, old friend.”
  * Eventually, he adjusted. He didn’t apologize to Arthur and Hosea with words, but with actions. He actively endorsed the new ranching life to anyone who was feeling unsure and made sure everyone felt comfortable about how things were.
  * And when they earned their first bit of significant income, that certainly helped him adjust.




	5. What she deserves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or alternatively, Dutch learns to respect women before molly ditches him for someone who actually deserves her.   
> Also, I drew Molly and Dutch's shared bedroom if anyone is interested.  
> https://irishmacguirefucker.tumblr.com/post/636426149723045888/molly-and-dutchs-room-if-youre-interested

  * When everyone was ready to move to the ranch, Dutch was still treating Molly the way he does in Horseshoe Valley. Flirting sometimes, but fighting nearly nightly and just generally not treating her with the respect she deserves.
  * Arthur was painfully aware of how Dutch was treating her. He had always been aware of how Dutch treats his women in general. The cycle of flirting, romance and the eventual fall of some poor girl who fell for it. Normally he would consider it none of his business but he decided it just wouldn’t work this time. The Ranch needed to be a new start for everyone, including Ms. O’Shea. She deserved a home just like the rest of them.
  * It started when he overheard Molly talking with Abigail on the way to the ranch. It was a long ride and Arthur was bringing up the rear of the caravans, so he could clearly head molly excitedly sharing her hopes with Abigail for their new home.
  * The lovesick girl told Abigail she hoped Dutch would have more time to be romantic with her, maybe he would be less tense and they would fight less, maybe he would be happy with the new life they would be starting together.
  * She moved to America for an adventure and in a way she was happy she got one. But her time in the gang proved to be enough adventure for her lifetime. Moving to a big beautiful house with the man she loved to live comfortably and domestic sounded like an absolute dream. Abigail was having a hard time contributing to the conversation. She was trying to be kind, while gently begging the girl not to get her hopes up too high because things take time.
  * Frankly, Arthur knew Dutch was unlikely to change on his own. He wouldn’t voice that to Molly though, he didn’t want to crush the poor woman’s dreams and chances are he would be far blunter than Abigail about it. He would never want to hurt the poor girl’s heart. Clearly, she was just in love and who was he to ruin that. So instead of saying anything to her and screwing it up as he tended to do when he had conversations like this with women, he decided he would speak to Dutch instead.
  * Dutch was still angry at Arthur, so what’s one more tense conversation before they arrive. So when they were making a stop to let everyone stretch their legs and take a break, Arthur pulled their leader away.
  * It was a hard conversation. Dutch Van der Linde did not appreciate his adoptive son telling him how to treat his woman one bit. The man was already unhappy with the minor mutiny from Hosea and Arthur earlier, so the timing wasn’t the greatest. Not that Arthur cared, he barely kept himself from just telling the girl to run away and find herself a good man.
  * Arthur actually managed to make Dutch angrier than he had been since they introduced the plan, and they both knew it was because Arthur was right.
  * Arthur ended up telling Dutch that if he didn’t start treating Ms. O’Shea how she deserves to be treated, she was going to leave him. She is a beautiful, intelligent girl and Dutch should know damn well that if she left him she could find a rich young man to take care of her and treat her right. But she chose him, and he needs to start appreciating that fact soon or she will slip right through his fingers.
  * After that fight, Dutch was nearly enraged. Arthur felt no need to engage with that, so he walked away. He said his piece and showed dutch that he’s not a mindless dumb follower of all his wills. And hopefully if anything he said stuck, he would realize how precarious his situation with Molly was.
  * They didn’t talk about it again but when they started again, Molly sat with Dutch on The Count for and showered her with compliments and terms of endearment.
  * Molly O’Shea isn’t stupid. She knows that sometimes Dutch has good days and bad days, and sometimes Dutch has possessive days. On the possessive days, he would treat her like a princess, and she would bask in it for as long as she could. And she would grieve it the next morning when he was back to a normal day.
  * There wasn’t a lot of time for more romantic moments beyond that, as they were still travelling, and Molly accepted that the ride had just been another temporary moment for her to recall when she was feeling lonely.
  * When they got to the Ranch and started allocating rooms, Molly was so excited that she would be sharing a beautiful, huge bedroom with Dutch. The bed there was dusty, but it was big and had pretty floral sheets and it was a bed. It reminded her of her bed back in Ireland, before she gave up her life of luxury to travel to America.
  * Dutch didn’t sleep in the bedroom for a while, but that was hardly new. Dutch’s insomnia wasn’t about to just disappear, and she had no issue with stretching out and taking up the whole bed to herself.
  * Early morning, the first day they were there, she woke to Dutch sitting beside her on the bed. He woke her with soft kisses to her shoulders, cheeks, head and lips. Then he gave her a porcelain teacup (found in the ranch house) full of fresh coffee made the way she likes and told her they needed to have a talk.
  * Dutch is a prideful man, so he didn’t exactly apologize for the fighting and neglect. But he did the closest thing to it and made a promise to her that early morning, in the soft light of the sunrise.
  * He promised her that he was finally going to give her everything she deserved. He would love her the way she needed, hold her the way she wanted, kiss her the way she craved.
  * She nearly cried at his admission, because honestly, she couldn’t bring herself to believe him. It hurt to hear him promise everything she had ever wanted of him, knowing that he was just going to go back to criticizing her and ignoring her by the next day. But she held back the tears and told him she loved him with her face pressed into his chest, and her breath caught when he actually said it back to her. It had been a long time since she heard anything more than a ‘thank you’ in response.
  * He treated her like a princess for the rest of the day, or as much as he could anyway. It was a very busy day, getting everything and everyone organized but between orders but when he could he would stop and kiss her sweetly, or compliment her. He had her sit on his lap to eat lunch, complimented her taste as she organized their bedroom to her liking, and she absolutely revelled in the attention.
  * The next day he treated her the same. And the next. And by the end of the week, she was confused. Obviously would never complain that he was being so good to her but she had to wonder why. She talked to Mary-Beth (who had been swooning over the two of them all week) and Abigail about it, and neither of them had any answers for her. (Though Abigail was sure to call Arthur a good man later, to his chagrin. Mothers really do have eyes everywhere.)
  * Dutch was the same man he always had been. Arrogant, overconfident, and dangerous. But he was also romantic, and strong, and confident. The traits that made her fall for him when she met him. She had no idea what caused him to start being so good to her.
  * Maybe one day she would ask why he changed. Not for a while though, out of fear that he might change back. For now, she would soak in his love like a pampered cat in a patch of sunshine.




	6. Remembrance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or alternatively, Hosea explores his late wife's childhood home with his closest family.

  * Hosea really just needs this to work.
  * He’s not a fool, he knows he’s getting too old for the job he has, and the strain is manifesting itself in sickness. Furthermore, he absolutely refuses to become a freeloader like Uncle, no matter how much work he has done in the past.
  * While it may have been his idea in the first place, he was terrified that going and living in Bessie’s childhood home would be too hard on his barely mended heart. He would be living in the space where she grew into the woman he loved, chock-full of reminders of her. He had no idea what would be left in the house, photos, possessions, etc.
  * Not long before they moved the whole gang out there, Dutch, Hosea and Arthur checked it out just the three of them. They had just paid off the bounties so they were able to easily travel in Blackwater again, and they made the trip in an attempt to appease Dutch’s anger. The idea was that by showing him how large the house is, he might start seeing the good in the plan. They also wanted to do a good once over of the house to look for any important concerns they would need to deal with.
  * Hosea had only been there once before and it was with Bessie when she was young. He hadn’t even entered the house, just waited as she ran inside to bid her brother farewell and grab a few belongings before leaving to be with Hosea in the gang.
  * When he arrived with the other men in tow, he was a little hesitant. Entering the home was going to be hard, Bessie's brother hardly took anything with him when he left so it would still be full of reminders. Dutch was still angry with him, but understood the meaning of this place to his best friend and did his best not to upset the older friend more.
  * The three of them went inside and the first thing they were faced with was a portrait of Bessie’s family. It was an old painting. Bessie’s parents who had long passed, looking young and happy. Bessie’s older brother, barely a grown man. And Bessie, who couldn’t have been older than 17 at the time of the painting.
  * Hosea stared up at the painting on the opposite side of the entryway for a long time, unable to look away and willing himself further into the home. To Hosea and Arthur’s surprise, Dutch placed a hand on his shoulder. “She was a beautiful young girl, my friend. I was always a little jealous that you met her first.”
  * It was enough to snap the older man out of his trance with a light chuckle. Dutch always knew what to say, even when he was angry at Hosea he knew how to comfort his best friend.
  * “You know well enough that she wouldn’t have picked you even if you had met her first. My Bessie was never a fan of the ego on you.”
  * That small interaction was enough to break the ice and get the men to move on from the entryway, into the rest of the house.
  * Getting through the house took a while, not only was it absolutely massive but it was full of reminders of Bessie. As they walked through Hosea had to stop and pull himself together with a deep breath more than once to be able to continue.
  * When they found Bessie’s childhood room on the second floor, Hosea went in alone.
  * He didn’t exit for an hour, Arthur and Dutch explored the rest of the rooms on the floor to give him his privacy. When he left the room, his eyes were red and his handkerchief was damp, balled up in his pocket. Arthur hugged him tight, father and son, and Dutch took his hand firmly between both of his own until the older man was ready to move on.
  * Most of the things in the house would likely stay, there was still clothing that would be redistributed even though they were a little old fashioned. The furniture, dishes, linens, most of it was all in perfect condition to be used. But everything belonging to Bessie would be carefully put away in the attic, minus a few items that Hosea would keep in his room.
  * When they got back to camp, Dutch was prepared to make another one of his speeches to describe the house to the gang, but Arthur stopped him. With a few angry whispers and empty threats, Dutch went back to make his speech but it was far shorter than anyone expected. He told them it was beautiful, it was everything they needed and told them all that Hosea would give them the detailed story over the campfire.
  * And he did, with no tears, just a wistful expression as he described the home his late wife loved so much.




	7. Belonging

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or alternatively, Sean wonders if he really belongs on a ranch, but realizes he belongs wherever his newfound family is.

  * Sean Macguire was really not meant to learn the plan as early as he did. He ended up overhearing it being spoken about, and then getting caught by Arthur and threatened to keep it a secret.
  * Luckily keeping secrets is a Macguire specialty. As long as Karen doesn’t grill him. Or Grimshaw. Or Javier with his knife. But that’s ok because Grimshaw will know soon, it’s not like Javier is actively trying to hang out with him, and he can totally avoid Karen.
  * Totally possible.
  * But as for how he felt about the plan, it’s complicated.
  * He was unsure about the idea, to say the least. If a stranger asked him what he thought of the idea he would tell them how the domestic life was far too boring and stagnant for the great outlaw Sean Macguire. He still had seeds to sow, people to rob, fields to burn.
  * But if you asked as a friend? As a brother like Arthur did? He would admit that it didn’t sound too terrible. Having a bed to sleep in and a place to go home to is something he has barely known since his father died.
  * And he had never really told anyone, but after the weeks he spent in the custody of bounty hunters he was almost happy to turn down the intensity for a while. Weeks and weeks of torture and abuse at the hands of those men was enough for him to think long and hard about his life and what he wanted to do with it.
  * But despite the terrible nightmares he still had about those months, he would never leave behind the gang. Sean Macguire is loyal to his people because where would he be without them? Dead in a ditch somewhere he reckons. If only he knew that he was a deciding factor in Dutch’s final decision to go along with Hosea’s plan and move to the ranch.
  * Dutch was one of the people who saw through his facade, one of his greatest skills was seeing through people’s lies and facades. He could saw the damage and resulting pain of torture behind the younger man’s eyes. Dutch didn’t want that for his people. Sean is so young, he didn’t deserve to look so haunted, be so scared when someone came up behind him.
  * He wouldn’t ever tell Dutch, but if Hosea and Arthur had decided to go to the ranch and dutch wanted to remain a criminal, he might have gone with Arthur and Hosea. But really if he thought long and hard about it? He would just follow Karen’s lead.
  * He is in love with Karen. He had been pretty much since she slapped him the first time, and laughed when he told her that only made him want her more. And he was hardly ashamed to admit it. It had been half a joke before he was taken away, but when he got back he was completely and utterly serious about it. He still said it happily and with a laugh, but he knew for sure that he was well and properly in love with the blonde firecracker and he really hoped she knew he meant it.
  * While he would follow the gang to the ranch happily, he was never one to be silent. He questioned the decision a lot, wanted to know the details. Dutch told him to direct most of his questions to Hosea, and it took a long time for Hosea and Arthur to answer them all.
  * He asked why they were doing this, he asked if the gang lifestyle was really a thing of the past, he asked about Bessie’s family and home. After a long conversation with the two men, his mouth finally stopped moving a mile a minute. Throughout the whole conversation, he had kept a fairly jovial spirit about it all, acting as he always does. But towards the end, he seemed to sober up a bit and get serious.
  * He took a moment to look to young Jack, poking the campfire with a stick and to Lenny who was buried in a book beside a lantern. And then he took a far longer moment to stare at Karen Jones, who was singing along to a song with Grimshaw and Uncle that night. And then he turned back to the men and asked one more question.
  * “If we move to this farm o yours, and be ranchers an all that…are we going to be alright?”
  * Hosea can read between the lines. Sean wants to know if he will be safe, if Karen will be safe, if they will be able to do it, and so many more vulnerable questions he couldn’t say out loud.
  * “If we do this, move to this ranch? We will be more than okay son, we will be more than okay. We’ll be laughing in the faces of everyone who said we were nothing in this world.”
  * And that made it Sean's kind of plan.




	8. Truths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or alternatively, Karen jones weasels the ranch plan out of Sean and then has a brief crisis about it. This one is still one of my favourites I've written, I'm still thrilled with how it came out. The only downside was realizing I kin karen.

  * Karen Jones is not a particularly optimistic person. She wouldn’t say pessimistic persay, maybe more of a realist.
  * There were a lot of things she felt were ultimate truths. Women would never be treated equally to men or allowed to vote, she would always despise the hot weather, she would never be good at embroidery, and she would die as she lived. Nothing but another forgotten criminal. Another gang member shot down and swept underneath the rug that was the new century.
  * She was sure that was what happened to Sean. Dutch says he was captured but in Karens book he may as well have died on that boat job.
  * But one day, somehow, those truths she clung to seemed to be wavering.
  * When Tilly and Mary-Beth spoke of the women in Rhodes and San Denis, or even places further like New York, fighting for their right to vote and be equal she tried to brush it off.
  * But it stuck out in her brain. Was the world changing? Could things be different? Sadie Adler was running around in pants like it already had for her. Maybe she was a pessimist, not a realist.
  * Things were changing, she could feel it. And not just in the world of politics and women’s rights. (not that she thought herself much of a scholar in that area)
  * There were whispers around camp, Hosea left for a long time and when he came back he had a look in his eye that she just couldn’t decipher. But then suddenly that look seemed to be catching on all around her. First in Arthur, though whatever was happening seemed to have put Dutch in a very grim mood.
  * Next it was John and Abigail Marston. Suddenly they were fighting less, and speaking in low whispers like schemers plotting some plan that Karen was still desperately trying to figure out.
  * The final straw was Ms. Grimshaw. She had that look in her eyes just like the rest and suddenly she was ordering the girls to start looking for legal money, legitimate jobs for the gang to get done. Suddenly, she wasn’t the only suspicious one anymore.


  * Things stayed that way for a while, looking for legal money with sob stories and not so innocent flirting to find jobs. And it was weird, and suspicious but no matter how much she grilled Grimshaw for it, that woman was locked tighter than the bank safes they used to rob. (Used to. How incredibly odd to think that they aren’t anymore)
  * And then suddenly, Sean Macguire was back. He was alive and safe and only a little worse for wear. Karen Jones’ solid truths were all being broken and the return of the man she -was pretty sure she- loved was the last crack she could handle.
  * She wanted so many things at once in that moment. She wanted rum, she wanted to run to his arms and never let go, she wanted to mount old belle and escape, she wanted to curl up in one of the wagons and cry
  * But she did none of those things. Instead, she took his greeting to her as she always had, sarcastic yet flirty, the way they had always been. Because that little game of theirs, the dancing around each other but knowing deep down (at least she thinks he knows) that she is his and he is hers.
  * If she changed that game, broke another solid truth that she was desperately trying to hold onto, she would be broken open and the world would suddenly become unpredictable and scary.
  * So she drank her beer, sat in his lap, kissed Sean, slapped him, kissed him once more and then took him to bed. And while that whole mess wasn’t the greatest experience on her end, she practically had to run from that tent because Sean had about a thousand new scars and bruises and she wasn’t about the cry over it in his face. Naked. After bad sex.
  * After the night of Sean's reunion with the gang, he seemed to hang around her a little more. Not much more than before, but now it was rare if he wasn’t hanging off her skirts around camp. And she couldn’t complain because she did miss him terribly, no matter what she said to his face.
  * In some ways, she found it hard to face Hosea anymore. Right before he left on his apparent life changing trip, she had gotten particularly wasted and cried on the old man’s shoulder, clinging to one of Sean’s vests.
  * She actually admitted, out loud that she thinks she might love Sean, but she was so sure he was dead she didn’t know what to do with that thought anymore. That ‘almost’ that was floating in her head as she grieved.
  * When Sean came back, suddenly the memory of her drunken confession did too, and Hosea always seemed to have this weird soft smile when she and Sean spent time together. So she kinda had to avoid Hosea for a while
  * At some point, she saw Hosea and Sean having what looked to be a deep conversation and she prayed to the god she was entirely unsure even existed that Hosea wouldn’t share her secret.
  * Of course, he didn’t, and she felt a little guilty that she even thought that about the man who was in so many ways a father figure to her. But he told Sean something because suddenly, even Sean had that look in his eye.
  * The plotting, scheming, planning look that was catching around the camp like a disease and suddenly, she would pay any amount of money to know just what they were plotting. She knows that it’s big, bigger than anything they have even done.
  * Sean was never able to keep a secret from her for very long. She knew that if she got on his case about it he would likely spill, so that's exactly what she did. But then suddenly Sean was no longer hanging off her skirts and seemed to be avoiding her as much as he could.
  * His absence from her side was obvious. There was nobody pestering her (other than Grimshaw), nobody sitting with her while she drank her morning coffee, nobody sneaking up behind her to spin her around just to see her get all flushed and mad, nobody to give her a cheeky kiss as he promised not to do it again with his fingers crossed behind his back.
  * Karen Jones is far from stupid, she knows that she must have been getting close to something if Sean was leaving her alone on his own free will.
  * So finally she caught him on guard duty. It was near the end of his shift and she made her way into the trees that hid their camp from the world.
  * She knew what she wanted to say, but once they locked eyes he immediately looked so nervous that she almost laughed at the shifting feet and darting eyes of the man in front of her.
  * She nearly forgot she had brought him a mug of coffee and handed it to him wordlessly. He thanked her quietly and then everything was silent. Far too silent to be normal for Sean “I never stop talking even when I’m in mortal danger” Macguire.
  * “You’re awfully quiet Sean, ain’t like you.”
  * A pause. More darting eyes. “Ah yes well I’m on duty, can’t let those bastards out the woods hear me talking up a storm.”
  * Another pause. A chuckle under Karen’s breath.
  * “Ain’t never stopped you before.”
  * Briefly, he smiled and looked into the blonde’s eyes. “That it hasn’t Karen my love, but I’m not looking to get another cuff up the back of me head from Hosea for forgetting to keep me fuckin’ mouth shut.”
  * For a moment he looked like he might start acting normally again before he remembered just why he was avoiding her. Suddenly he was staring at his boots once more. Some guard he is.
  * “Right. You and Hosea been talking a lot lately. In fact, a lot of people seem to be talkin’ with Hosea ‘cept me it seems.” That was her own fault for avoiding him, but she wouldn’t say that.
  * Sean looked uncomfortable with this conversation, looking past Karen to see if anyone was on their way to take his shift. She hoped that meant she was close to cracking him.
  * “Ah yes well, you know how it is with the old man. Always wanting to have long discussions about the glory days, or give ya advice ya didn’t ask for.”
  * “I suppose. But you know what I think Sean?”
  * Sean has never looked this nervous before she thinks.
  * “What’s that love?” Bold of him to ask anyways, she will give him that.
  * “I think yall are plotting something, and you’re keeping secrets, Mr. Macguire.”
  * She watched as the Irish man stiffened, took a look around, threw back his coffee and sighed. They both knew he wouldn’t be able to keep anything from her for long, perhaps he was finally accepting that.
  * “I just might be Ms. Jones, but I hardly think it’s much of your business to be pryin’ it out of me is it?”
  * Sean hardly sounded like himself to her ears. Sure, he could be nasty out on a job but never to her. She considered this man to be her best friend, the man she was almost sure she was in love with, and he was slapping her away like she was nothing but a fly bothering him. She can count on one hand the number of secrets she had ever kept from him.
  * He always had a way of pulling them out of her, because he always wanted her to be happy around him. He wanted to know her problems not to fix them, but to distract her from them.
  * She had always thought it was a sort of mutual agreement. They were close. Not just friends but not quite together. Close enough that they had a bond neither could deny. So the idea that he's been avoiding her for some reason and would get so nastily defensive when she asked? It hurt.
  * But she wouldn’t let him know that. That’s not how the game works. But suddenly all these changes around her gave her the courage to say screw the game.
  * “Screw you Sean Macguire. How fucking dare you.”
  * “Karen-”
  * “No, you wanna keep your mouth shut about this then you can keep your big mouth shut while I yell at you. How dare you talk to me like that. How dare you keep secrets when never in my life have I ever been able to keep a secret from you. No wait, I kept one secret from you didn’t I? I never told you that I thought you were god damn dead.”
  * That and the fact that she was in love with him. When did she suddenly become sure of that fact? Not that it matters. She was already saying more than she meant to.
  * “I thought you were dead in the ground and it damn near broke me. You are my best friend, and you have the god damn fucking balls to tell me it's none of my business why you won't even look my way for 3 weeks. Go to hell Macguire, you don’t wanna speak to me then fine. Don’t. I don’t want you around no more either you bastard.”
  * It took one look at the young man’s face to make her eyes start watering, and then she was marching back to camp. Like hell she would let him see her cry after that mess.
  * She almost wanted him to run after her. To apologize and tell her why he can barely look at her, and hold her as she cried. But he was on guard duty so that wasn’t an option, and that wasn’t how their relationship worked.
  * She didn’t see him again for a while. She took the work Grimshaw gave her down to the lake, and watched Jack wade in the water trying to catch a crab or a fish while she sewed up a shirt. When she got up to get more clothes she saw Sean conspiring with Hosea once more and refused to even give him another glance. She watched Pearson fish off the dock for a while, whilst she stitched a blanket, she watched the sun get lower in the sky till it lit up like the campfire.
  * And then out of the corner of her eye, she saw a lanky leg step over the log she was on, and then he was sitting beside her.
  * She didn’t look up. He didn’t speak. He nudged a bottle of beer her way, and she took it without a word.
  * The sun had just barely sunk below the horizon when he cleared his throat and took a breath to speak up. She cut him off before he could start.
  * “Don’t start Sean, I don’t want your damn apologies.”
  * “Well, then it’s a bloody good thing I wasn’t about to apologise love.”
  * She wished he wouldn’t call her that. It’s not like she exactly had time to process the whole being in love revelation she had earlier.
  * “What the hell do you want then.”
  * “I want to tell you a secret.”
  * She scoffed and started to stand up, but he grabbed her waist before she could, and she looked him in the face for the first time since that morning when they fought. “Let me go Sean Macguire, I don’t wanna hear it.”
  * “Oh hush, yes ya do. I couldn’t bloody well tell you this mornin’, it weren’t my secret to tell you. But I had a little talk with Hosea, and he gave me then blessin’ to share with you.”
  * He couldn’t tell her because it wasn’t his to share. So here she was getting angry at him for something that wasn’t even his fault. Not that there was no reason at all.
  * “Dammit Sean, the hell does that have to do with you avoidin’ me like the god damned plague. You could have said you can’t tell me and I woulda’ left you the hell alone about it.”
  * “Now that is a dirty lie Ms. Jones, I have not successfully kept anythin’ from you in my whole life. You knew what I was going to give you for your birthday the day I stole the damned thing. I wasn’t able to risk something this important falling out of my big mouth because you distracted me with your beauty.”
  * He was trying to abate her anger, and the fact that it was nearly working only served to anger her more. How dare he sit there and nearly make her laugh when he was apparently keeping some giant secret from her.
  * “Fine Sean. What’s the big secret that’s been makin’ you run away from me like a dog afraid of his own shadow.”
  * “Well my love, you had better get comfortable, this is quite the tale and I happen to be quite the storyteller.” And before she could tell him to get the hell on with it, he started doing what he does best. Talking.
  * It took him nearly a fucking hour to get to the point. He told her everything he knew about the ranch plan, every word Hosea had said to him about it, all the way up to him begging Hosea to let him tell Karen about it. By the time he finished, both their beers were gone and everything Karen had known her whole life was slipping through her fingers like the sand beneath their feet.
  * “-an’ Hosea says that nobody has to go with him, we can all go our separate ways and such but that’s what his plan is. He and the bloody Marstons and Arthur and everyone else they can get are going with him. And Dutch was planning on telling everyone as soon as we had the money to do it and I only know because I’m fuckin’ excellent at eavesdropping. But Arthur caught me sneaking off and told me to keep me trap shut about it so I did.”
  * She stared at him in stunned silence. Half the gang was plotting a move to New Austin to start a ranch in the middle of nowhere. Finally, she managed to get her thoughts together just long enough to spit out the words “The one fucking time you can follow a god damned direction.”
  * And that was enough to make him laugh. And he sat there and laughed like they weren’t getting their worlds turned upside down.
  * All the things Karen considered to be complete unbreakable truths were shattering. She was looking at this offer of a real life that wouldn’t end in her premature death and it terrified her, but at the same time, nothing had ever looked so good.
  * “I’m still mad that you avoided me like that.”
  * “Don’t think you’ve ever screamed at me quite like you did this morning Ms. Jones.”
  * “I did not scream at you, you were on guard duty.”
  * “You bloody did. The bird flocked out of the trees. Some broad on the street heard you and said ‘I wonder what stupid bloke pissed of that woman’”
  * “Are you going? To the ranch with Hosea?” She didn’t notice that over time she had practically ended up in his lap until just now.
  * “Well Ms. Jones, that all depends on where you’re planning ongoing.”
  * Sean Macguire had confessed his love to her many times, drunk and sober. But she never thought any of them sincere until now. Here was Sean Macguire, willing to follow her wherever she may go. And it terrified her just as much as the idea of the ranch did. But just like the ranch, nothing had ever looked quite so safe, so sweet, so good.
  * She knew she wasn’t ready to tell Sean she loved him yet. It was nice to know he loved her, and that she was hardly going to get rejected should she tell him. But she wasn’t ready yet.
  * So instead she said “I think that I’m gonna go with Hosea and Arthur and them. To be ranchers or whatever the hell they wanna do.”
  * “Then I guess we’re gonna be ranchers! Though I was never good with bloody livestock.” and that made Karen laugh good and proper.
  * Karen Jones feels that a few things will always be ultimate truths. She would always despise the hot weather, she would never be good at embroidery no matter how hard she tried, that Sean Macguire loved her to the ends of the earth and back, and that she loved him too.
  * Being ranchers meant she would likely never have to lose him again, and so ranchers they would be.




	9. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or alternatively, Charles Smith loves his new family and would follow Arthur anywhere

  * Charles may be a newer member of the gang, but he was there long enough to be just as loyal as any other.
  * He found a family in these people, brothers and sisters and friends. He would stick with them until the end. An end that seemed to be rapidly approaching.
  * Charles Smith wouldn’t consider himself much of an intellectual, but it doesn’t take much to see that the gang life is dying out. As he and Arthur got close, they spoke of it a lot.
  * Arthur’s new focus on treasure hunting was really confusing. For the second time, Arthur asked Charles if they could take a detour on a hunting trip to go find some treasure stash or another that he heard about.
  * They weren’t exactly in a rush to get back, so Charles didn’t exactly have a reason to decline. And Dutch was in a foul mood lately anyway, so maybe coming back with a little treasure might help with that.
  * So he agreed and followed Arthur and his weird map, all the way up assfuck nowhere Amberino, AKA Coterra Springs.
  * The whole way there, Arthur seemed off. Neither of them are exactly talkative men, but this wasn’t their usual comfortable silence. Arthur barely stopped, not taking the time to comment on landmarks or interesting animals, they even passed a herd of paints and he barely glanced at them.
  * Getting there was somewhat of a blessing, Arthur seemed happy they had made such good time and immediately wanted to try and find the treasure. Charles had to be the one to pull him back and point out the obvious signs of a wolf pack living nearby.
  * This seemed to ring a bell in Arthur’s mind, and he pulled out his journal, flipping to the back where he had various maps tucked away. Pulling out his Legendary Animals map, he showed it to Charles. Should they encounter wolves today, they would be dealing with some dangerous ones.
  * They made a plan, Charles would keep an eye out for movement along the treeline (as well as pull a distracted Arthur away from the geysers), and Arthur would search for the next piece of the Jack Hall Gang’s treasure.
  * (Charles had broken the silence on the way there to ask. “Jack Hall Treasure…as in the gang? What were they doing hiding maps and treasure?”
  * Arthur responded lowly, not wanting any passersby to hear what they were out for. “Apparently ‘fore they died out, they robbed some banks out in California, ran out here to escape the law. Buried the gold they stole an’ wrote out the maps to find it again, but Hall got his gang killed and arrested with a bad robbery ‘fore they could go back for the money.”
  * “Huh, some story. Song don’t quite hold up, specially with Sean and Uncle singing it.” Arthur chuckled at that, “Most songs don’t with ‘em.” The break-in heavy silence was nice, but short-lived as Arthur set back to studying the map.)
  * Arthur seemed to be getting more and more frustrated with the doodles on the map, trying to compare it to his regular map, and his surroundings. Charles said nothing, focusing on what looked to be shifting forms in the trees, wondering if it was elk or wolves.
  * By the time he realized it was wolves, it was too late. They had herded the men and their steeds without the knowledge of either. Just as Charles was about to quietly get Arthur’s attention, the man spotted what he was looking for.
  * “Charles, I think I found the damned treasure!” He said loudly, and pulled out a rattling bag of coins, effectively scaring the nervous horses into rearing and setting off the wolves.
  * It was a close call, the wolf of legend was massive and more intelligent than the average wolf. The pack was bigger than either of them had seen. A few of them ran off after the fleeing horses and the men could only hope they would be alright as they dealt with the majority of the pack and the biggest of them all.
  * The wolves seemed to run at them in waves of 3 or 4, always outnumbering the men and getting mighty close to biting distance before they were shot down. It was almost sad, having to take out such a large number of mighty animals, but it was the wolves or them.
  * Just when the pack seemed to be thinning out enough that they might start to retreat, the massive legendary wolf made his move. He took down Arthur from behind, and it was pure luck that Charles landed a shot through its massive head with his rifle.
  * The moment the legendary wolf went down, the rest of the wolves seemed to realize they would not be getting their prey and retreated. Several wolves ran back from the direction of the horses and based on the lack of blood covering their muzzles, they were unsuccessful in their pursuit.
  * Before Charles could even be relieved by the horse’s success, Arthur groaned from beneath the massive animal. Charles quickly fell to his knees and dragged the wolf’s carcass off Arthur, briefly marvelling at its weight.
  * Arthur groaned again in relief and heavily pushed himself up into a sitting position. “Christ, I’m too old to be getting knocked down like that. Creature outta be nothin but muscle, taking me down like that.”
  * Charles laughed, half in relief and half at Arthurs commentary. “He was huge, I’ll give you that. He was likely nearing 150 pounds, very large for a wolf. Are you alright?”
  * “I’m fine, just outta breath. Caught me off guard.”
  * Charles looked at the bag of gold coins sitting on the ground a few feet away. “Was it worth your treasure?”
  * Arthur seemed to remember it and quickly reached for the bag, apparently not wanting to get up yet. “Suppose we’re gonna find out.” Inside the bag was another map, that Arthur sighed at, but tucked aside to look at after.
  * He quickly counted the money. “15 dollars, not quite a damn treasure Hall.”
  * Charles was confused. They had been finding stashes of money like this for a while and as far as he knew, Dutch was just putting it away and it had barely been spent on anything. “It’s not a bad haul Arthur, especially not for us. Why are you so focused on treasure lately? We could earn more if we went back to robbery.”
  * Not that robbery seemed such a good idea right now, after the mess that chased them out of Valentine. But it would certainly get them a larger haul than chasing ambiguous treasure from a years-old map like pirates.
  * Arthur was silent for a while, what he was contemplating, Charles had no idea. He seemed to be thinking mighty hard on it though. Finally, he sighed deeply and seemed to make up his mind about something.
  * “It’s quite the story if you wanna hear it. It’s a pretty big secret too, not that I’ve ever been worried ‘bout you running your mouth or nothin.”
  * Charles smiled warmly at his friend, attempting to put him at ease. “You don’t have to tell me Arthur, but you never have to worry about me sharing secrets with anyone. And we have nothing but time, we’ll be skinning these wolves for a while anyway.”
  * Arthur sighed before dragging himself to his feet. “Suppose you’re right. Let’s start getting these dogs together and I’ll tell you all about Hosea’s plan.”
  * Arthur did just that. He told the story from the beginning, every detail he remembered as they carefully skinned the wolves and salvaged what meat they could. Partway through, the horses had found their way back, a little antsy but no worse for wear.
  * By the time Arthur had explained the entire plan, night had fallen and they were finding a spot to camp. (Away from the spot where they left the stripped carcasses, lest they be attacked by a damn bear in their sleep.)
  * Charles had a lot of thoughts. The plan itself seemed rather solid and safe, definitely a result of Hosea being the one to make it. He would definitely need some time to think about it before he could make any real comments on it. For now, he could only say; “Certainly explains why Dutch is so irritable lately.”
  * Arthur laughed loudly, and Charles smiled. Arthur seemed so excited about this plan, happier than he had seemed in the whole of their friendship.
  * “Yeah, he weren’t a fan of our lack of faith…Do you think you’ll go, Charles?”
  * Now that was quite the question. Such a life wasn’t anything Charles ever thought of as a possibility for himself, though he expects that how most everyone feels about it.
  * He thought about his family. Not so much his father, but his poor mother. She had always wanted a peaceful life for her family, and he can’t help but think she would have been thrilled at the idea of her son finding a ‘proper’ home after just wandering since he was 13. The lone wolf was never a title she would have wanted for him.
  * He also thought of the rest of his gang, his new family. He would never say it to her, but he had always hoped that one day Abigail would take her baby and find herself a safer home, he never wanted that boy to end up an orphan like him and many of the other members. Them and everyone else in the gang could be safe and fed and happy, and in a way, he felt he deserved to be a part of it. After being a lone wolf so long, he had earned a home to share with his family.
  * “I think I will. I’d like to see what it’s like to have a real home. I haven’t had that since my mother was taken.” He hadn’t meant to be so open when he started speaking, but he supposed that Arthur is his closest friend now, so why not.
  * Arthur seemed surprised at his open words, but it shifted to happiness. “You know, I think that’s somethin’ I’d like to try as well.”
  * They sat in comfortable silence for a while as the fire got properly warm, and Charles couldn’t help but notice that this silence felt so different from Arthur’s silence on the way here.
  * And on their way home, Arthur stopped to study the herd of American paint horses, and Charles knew all was well once more.




	10. Saved

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or alternatively; Javier realizes he really hopes all his friends go to the ranch to be happy while procrastinating his own decision

  * There were a lot of ways Javier Escuella thought his life would turn out after he fled Mexico.
  * Having his own third-floor bedroom in a massive, beautiful house and living an almost domestic life around former gang members turned family was not one of them.
  * He had already considered himself saved. He was starving and without a thing to his name when Dutch took him in. For years having a bedroll, a guitar and a gang to give his loyalty was home enough for him.
  * So when Dutch announced to them all that they would be giving up the gang life for some ranch all the way back in New Austin… He was conflicted, that’s to say the least.
  * He didn’t disagree with the idea per se, it’s just a lot to swallow when you’ve been a revolutionary, a bounty hunter and a gang member. Never a rancher.
  * But he would follow Dutch. He would always be loyal to Dutch no matter what.
  * The speech was… odd. Dutch didn’t speak very long. Something nobody was used to. And then Hosea stood to speak to them all, that’s something they rarely saw.
  * Dutch’s speech was impassioned and compelling as they always are but it was still jarring. Dutch Van der Linde, gang leader for life, the man who caught him trying to steal chickens from some other ranch was telling them that they should give up their life of crime and danger to become those ranchers.
  * He even went as far as to admit that the age of gangs was no more and that if they continued on as they were they would all go down in gunfire.
  * Javier couldn’t help but think that was always the plan.
  * If the speech had come from anyone else it would have sounded like he was admitting defeat, but Dutch Van der Linde made it sound like an opportunity. A hopeful prospect of good money and comfortable lives.
  * And then Dutch stepped down and Hosea stepped up.
  * Hosea’s speech was less focused on convincing people through faith and more on telling people what they would get.
  * He told them just how massive the house was, 11 bedrooms and other rooms that could be converted for their best use. Acres of land to have livestock, run the horses, and just to have as their own. Cabins that they would build after they got there so they wouldn’t be cramped. He said it as if they could possibly be cramped in a house bigger than any of their camps.
  * And in the end, he told them just how he got the property. Javier hadn’t known Bessie, she died before Dutch found him. Hosea was still grieving then, Javier could tell even though he barely knew Hosea at the time. He figures he must have missed the drunken year Dutch and Arthur spoke of but not by a lot, maybe 2 or 3 years at most.
  * Even so Hosea taught Javier English. Just as much as Dutch contributed to that cause, Hosea did too. Sometimes he felt a bit like a project for the two men but Hosea always assured him that it was an honor to have him join their gang and their family, and family help each other out.
  * Listening to Hosea speak of his late wife’s childhood home with such excitement, was a little bewildering to everyone in camp. Hosea always had a sort of melancholy sort of happiness when he spoke of Bessie but this time around he just seemed so excited.
  * The hope in his eyes turned back the clock. He almost looked younger, standing up in front of everyone and laying out this opportunity for them.
  * When Javier said he would follow Dutch anywhere… He meant it. He would go with them to this ranch, he would have even if Dutch hardly told them anything. Not that he was naïve, he just had a lot of trust in Dutch’s ideas and they had hardly ever led him astray in the past.
  * However because he is not naïve he was skeptical. He knows many of the members of this gang were likely feeling the same way; former orphans, rejects, runaways, etc. Many of them had not had the warmth of a real home in a long time, some never had it at all.
  * But like him: they had faith in Dutch and trust in Hosea. So they would follow. He would follow. To a brand new life.
  * -


  * Javier remained skeptical. The night after the speech held a dangerous tension around camp. Everyone had either gone to their beds or into the forest to think long and hard about this decision, or was sitting around the campfire in dead silence.
  * Javier was near the campfire. Mostly because that is where his bedroll is but also because he had much to think about and didn’t want to do it alone. Around the campfire sat Arthur, Charles, Lenny, Kieran, Mary-beth and Tilly.
  * The silence was heavy, each of them in their own heads. Mary-Beth and Tilly were practically on top of each other with the way they sat. Javier supposed they found comfort in each other.
  * Glancing at the young women, he thought they should go to the Ranch. They’re so young and so deserving of a good home. They kept glancing at each other looking rather conflicted. Javier hoped they chose to go.
  * As he moved down the line of people he passively thought he must be avoiding his own thoughts on the idea by examining his friends around the fire. He couldn’t bring himself to do it just yet.
  * Next is Kieran. Their newest member. Not that many of them really considered him a member yet. The offer had been extended to him, Javier had watched Arthur place a heavy hand on the smaller man’s shoulder and say something too low for Javier to hear. Judging by the rare smile that broke out on Kieran’s face, he would be going with them as well.
  * Javier did not interact with Kieran much. As he often did with everyone, he watched the man from afar, examined him and made opinions on him that he would mostly keep to himself. He believed that Kieran was mostly telling the truth about the O’Driscoll situation. The boy clearly had no loyalty to the other gang and earlier spoke of Colm O’Driscoll quite venomously to Mary-Beth, Sean and Arthur in the dark of the night.
  * Javier is an incredibly good judge of character. Spending months being unable to understand the people speaking around you makes you exceptional at reading people through their actions. Kieran is a kind boy, his involvement with the O’Driscolls’ was an unfortunately unavoidable action that had brought him to the Van Der Linde’s.
  * Javier thought Duffy should go to the ranch. He took incredible care of the horses. Boaz was a rambunctious horse, and Javier had never seen someone outside himself handle her so well. He saved Arthur back in Horseshoe Valley, something a true bastard would have just used as an opportunity to run. And he was humorously lovesick over Mary-Beth, that much was clear to everyone. While Javier was sure that girl could have any man she wanted it looked like she liked him back. He couldn’t help but feel happy for the both of them, they would enjoy ranch life and have a safe home for their blossoming romance.
  * Though Javier could only imagine the lineup of torturers he’d have should he break her heart. Javier would certainly be in that line, somewhere behind Arthur and Susan probably.
  * The next person here was Lenny. Another young member who had experienced so much pain. Javier had heard the boys backstory. He felt for that 15-year-old boy who watched his father beaten to death, made his first kill and had to leave behind his remaining parents so he wouldn’t be hung for his crimes. Javier knew the pain of leaving behind family, he couldn’t help but sympathize.
  * Lenny deserved to live on that ranch. He deserved to have the luxury that was earned by him, and his family through pain and suffering. 19 years old is so young, he had a whole life of comfort ahead of him should he go.
  * Finally, he observed Charles and Arthur, only to find them looking at him the way he had been looking at the others. Javier knew that on some level that the two men had already known before that night. They would be going, that much was clear. He was happy for them, his friends deserved to settle down and live in comfort.
  * Lenny’s voice speaking up nearly made him jump. “I think that I’m gonna go. I…I think my Ma and Pa would want me to. And if Hosea and Dutch say it’ll be good…I think it’ll be great.”
  * Javier smiled. Slowly he watched as Mary Beth and Tilly squeezed their joined hands and agree with the dark-skinned boy. Then Mary-Beth slid a hand to her side and intertwined her fingers with Kierans, just barely in Javier’s sight. It pays to be so observant he thinks. Everyone around the fire all spoke up, agreeing and choosing to go and he was happy for them. And then suddenly eyes were on him and he was forced to face his own thoughts.
  * He could say what immediately comes to mind, he would stay loyal to Dutch. But that wasn’t what they were looking for. He couldn’t help but wonder if it’s what he really deserves. All this time spent thinking about how his friends deserve to go and live happily, but what does he deserve? He who left his family behind, who put them in danger by killing a powerful man over a woman. Did he deserve the same home as them?
  * His mother is dead, that he knows. He hopes his sister was happy with her husband, in a home with a family. He fought in Mexico for his village to earn what they deserved, that’s something he was still proud of. But then he left. What did that make him? A deserter? A coward?
  * He was pulled out of his self deprecating thoughts when Arthur spoke up. “You should come with us, Javier. An’ not just for Dutch. It… It’s gonna be real nice there, I think you’ll be real happy.”
  * Then Charles. “I know we haven’t known each other for long but after hearing your story, you deserve to come to New Austin, more than some of us. Definitely more than Uncle.”
  * That pulled a few laughs from the group before he continued. “You owe Dutch your life, but a lot more people owe you theirs.”
  * The campfire was silent once more but now it was anticipating. Waiting to see what the ex-revolutionary would say.
  * “I’ll go. I’ll follow Dutch anywhere…this gang is the only family I have left and I won’t abandon them like I did my mother and my sister back in Nuevo Paraíso.”
  * Nobody responded, but they all seemed to be almost buzzing. This new prospect was going to be amazing, and they were all happy to see members of the gang agreeing to join on the adventure.
  * “Javier…Would you play a song for us? I just can’t stand this silence no more.” Tilly said. Everyone seemed to agree, the tension was no more. Now they needed to wind down.
  * Javier smiled and reached back for his guitar. “Why not Hermana, what can I play for you?”
  * She seemed to think on it for a minute before leaning into Mary-Beth’s shoulder. “Could you play one of your songs? One of them soft Spanish ones?”
  * Mary Beth jumped in. “Oh yes, please? They sound so nice, even if I don’t understand a word.”
  * It was a kind request of them, to sing a song of his former home after a long deliberation over his new one. As he chose the song he would sing, he couldn’t help but feel incredibly happy that he would spend the rest of his days singing for his new family.
  * Maybe one day he would send a letter to his sister, try and find out how she is doing without him. But for now, he would sit around the fire and he would sing for his closest friends, and dream of their upcoming new life with them in peace.




	11. O’Driscoll no more

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kieran Culkin lives in my head rent free for no fucking reason, it made thinking about Duffy much harder. I figured it out enough to write this tho

  * Kieran didn’t think he was going to the ranch with them to be honest. Dutch announced the plan not long after they started trusting him to care for the horses, which in itself is not much trust.
  * The speech about the ranch felt like a plan he shouldn’t be hearing. If he weren’t busy being amazed by how close Mary-Beth was standing to him during all this. Sure she was holding Tilly’s hand, but she had inched close to him and caught him staring.
  * Instead of looking away in disgust or slapping him, she smiled at him. He swore he had never seen anything prettier in his whole life.
  * When the speech ended, everyone began to part ways. They all seemed to have a lot to think about, and Kieran had two more horses to brush out before bed. But just as he was about to head back up to the little campfire, Mary-Beth grabbed his arm and pulled him to the big fire with the others.
  * He would have protested if he weren’t so distracted by how gentle her hands were against his wrists. She sat down beside her friend and he stood awkwardly, unsure what to do.
  * She tugged his wrist again, and this time he got to hear her perfect voice. The one that spoke kindly to him for the first time when he got here, encouraged him to drink water while he was tied to that tree.
  * “Sit down Kieran, I don’t think anyone should be alone right now… Not with so much to think on and such.”
  * Who would he be to deny her that one request? So he sat down on her other side, and she laced her fingers with his behind them. It was silent for a while, and Kieran would have felt awkward among them if his heart weren’t pounding out of his chest.
  * They started talking after a while, each of them eventually agreeing to go to the ranch, and Kieran couldn’t have felt more out of place sitting around the fire. They would all go and enjoy their ranch, and Kieran would be left to wander. He hoped Colm wouldn’t find him again.
  * Javier played a few songs at Mary-Beth’s request, and Kieran did his best to memorize the feeling of her hand in his. He would miss her the most.
  * Eventually, Javier stopped singing but continued to strum the guitar softly, and then the most amazing thing happened. Slowly, Mary-Beth leaned over and rested her head on Kieran’s shoulder.
  * He froze up, afraid to move lest she realizes what she was doing and push him off. Surely she meant to lean the other way into Tilly? But then quietly, just by his ear, he listened to her breathing grow soft and turn into the cutest little snores he ever heard.
  * What kind of divine punishment was this, to have her touch him and trust him so much that she slept on his shoulder, and she would be leaving for a brand new life soon.
  * He finally managed to relax his muscles enough to look over and take in the sight of her sleeping, her cheek pressed into his shoulder and her soft curls spilling down his chest. She looked ethereal in the firelight, lighting up the freckles that covered her face in a delicate galaxy. He was entranced by her.
  * He was startled out of his thoughts by a gruff voice, nearly waking her with the way he jumped. She grumbled and pressed her face further into his shoulder, and he would have felt bad if he weren’t worried about what was going to follow Arthurs; “So, O’Driscoll-”
  * He looked up at the man, and he couldn’t help but expect the man to threaten him for getting so close to the young woman.
  * “You gonna be moving on to the Ranch with us then?”
  * Kieran’s brows furrowed and he answered quietly. “I-I can’t say I realized that offer was bein’ extended my way, sir.”
  * Arthur chuckled. “Now why would you think that Duffy, we let you stick ‘round this long. And it looks like at least one of us has taken a liking to you.” He gestured to the sleeping girl.
  * The younger man felt his whole face heat up. Before he could answer, Arthur continued. “You should come, we’ll still need someone to help out with the horses. We’ll probably have more when we’re on our feet proper, and you just have some sorta way with ‘em.”
  * It was weird to hear the man pay him a compliment. He wasn’t the worst of the camp by far, but Kieran couldn’t help but be a little scared of the blonde still. “Oh, w-well thank you, Mister. I am lucky they like me so much, on account of how much I like taking care of them.”
  * That made Arthur chuckle, and Kieran was able to relax a little. “So will you come along then Duffy? You’d get your own room and all. Eventually anyway.”
  * His own room. His own possessions that weren’t just the clothes on his back and the saddle on his horse. Days on end with a belly full of food and surrounded by the gentle beasts he enjoyed so much. And maybe friends. Maybe just maybe, a girl.
  * Mary-Beth stirred slightly, and he braced himself for the push, for her to slap him away for getting so close. She just looked up at him with her blue eyes, sparkling with firelight. “Please join us, Kieran, we want you there with us.”
  * He must have woken her when he jumped earlier, but he couldn’t feel guilty about it when he got to hear her voice all sleepy and soft. “I want you to come along, you deserve to be happy just as much as all of us.”
  * He smiled genuinely, something that didn’t happen often before he started running with the Van der Linde’s. “I suppose I can’t say no when you ask so kindly Miss Gaskill…”
  * She smiled so big he was sure she gave off her own sunlight. “Oh Kieran, it’s gonna be so perfect!”
  * She sighed in content and dragged herself to her feet. “I should head to my bed now, we’re gonna be quite busy tomorrow. Thank you for being my pillow Mister Duffy, but I oughta go to my real one. Goodnight everyone!”
  * Tilly said her goodnights as well, and the two girls headed to bed while Kieran sat there in awe. She had not only begged him to join them and wished him goodnight but thanked him for allowing her to sleep on his shoulder. He would never quite be able to comprehend her kindness.
  * “I suppose that answers that question.” Arthur chuckled, as he stood up with a grunt. “I suppose I’ll head in for the night. But you listen here Duffy,” Arthurs large hand clamped down on the sitting man’s shoulder as he leaned over, and Kieran can’t remember the last time he felt so small.
  * “If you hurt that girl, or cause one little tear on her face,” He leaned in closer. “I really will castrate you, and I certainly won’t need Bills damned tongs. I’ll do it with a bear trap.”
  * And then he stood back up straight with a crack in his back and walked to his tent leaving Kieran frozen to his spot. That little speech would certainly linger…
  * He couldn’t help but laugh about it a little later, only because if he ever hurt a hair on her sweet head himself, he would probably let Arthur do it happily.




	12. Loyal as a dog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Personally i dont like bill but i basically did a character study anyways.

Bill Williamson spent most of his life feeling angry. When he was a child he was angry at his parents for naming him Marion, and then angry at the other boys who would make fun of him for it. Then later he would be angry at his mother for dying, at his father for becoming an alcoholic and losing his mind over it. He was angry at the other children whose families seemed to love them, and eventually, he was angry at himself. 

He figured joining the army would be a good outlet for his anger, and for a while it was. But he got too angry. Attempting to kill a fellow army man was not his most shining moment, but neither was being there attacking the Indians in the first place. In retrospect, he should have seen the dishonourable discharge coming from the moment he joined. Even if he hadn’t tried to kill that man, they would have found something. He would get too angry or get too drunk, just like his father did. 

Meeting Dutch was a blessing he didn’t deserve. Robbing people on the highway was just another point towards that dishonourable title, but at this point, he was too drunk all the time to care. The PTSD leftover from the army made it hard to stay sober most nights either way. Maybe if he had been sober that night in ‘93 he could have gotten away with robbing Dutch, but honestly, he doubted it. Being laughed at for trying only fed the flames of that ever-present anger, but Dutch didn’t seem to care. He took up Dutch on his offer out of desperation, joined the Van der Linde gang and robbed people for them instead of for himself. Anything was better than laying drunk and full of horrific memories on the side of the road, as his life had been for the past unknown amount of time. In retrospect, he had been a rock bottom. He owed Dutch his life, Dutch who had peeled him off the side of the road at his absolute worst and still offered him a place in the world. 

Finding a place for himself was what he thought he had done in the army, but it ended up making his life far worse than it could have been. Joining the Van der Linde gang was a blessing, and this place in the world as an outlaw felt right, felt permanent and real. Having Dutch and Hosea stand up and tell them they were going to leave all that behind and become ranchers was hard to swallow.

Bill sat on his own the night the ranch was announced. After all the speeches were done and everyone had gone their separate ways, He sat underneath the miniature cliffs by the beach and leaned against the exposed dirt and stones. The whiskey in his hand burned his throat and was tasteless on his tongue, but he drank it anyway. He would go with Dutch, that was for certain. His place in the world revolved around two things; being saved by Dutch and trying not to turn into his father. However, he could just feel another ‘dishonourable discharge’. This new life wouldn’t fit him, he could feel it in his bones. They wanted a peaceful life and with everything Bill had done? Everything he had been through? He didn’t think he could have that. He didn’t deserve that. It would only be a matter of time before his anger would showcase itself and they would realize he didn’t fit in their new life.

They had never cared about his anger or his outbursts or his drinking when they were a gang. Sure he had gotten shit more than once for being lazy or drinking too much, or letting his anger get the best of him some days, but back then they had been a gang of misfits. An outfit made of broken men and lost women. They had allowed him to stay despite his anger, despite his flashbacks, despite his drinking. But now they wanted to start this real life, something solid and legal. Bill Willamson wouldn’t fit there, but he would try as long as he could. And when he was asked to leave, he couldn’t only hope his anger wouldn’t get the best of him once more. 

-

Living on the ranch was odd, to say the least. They had only been there a few days, and it had been spent mostly doing basic labour to make the place livable. Dumb labour isn’t so bad, and he kept the complaining to a minimum. (For him anyway.) Its been a welcome distraction from his thoughts, putting all his effort into patching fences and moving furniture and fixing doors. He left the planning and such to Hosea and Dutch, and just focused on those easy labour tasks they gave him. For a while, it really wasn’t so different from before. He still took guard duty at night sometimes, drank around a fire at night, slept on the ground where everyone would be safe, and did whatever Hosea and Dutch asked of him. But then they got the bedrooms figured out, and Bill was offered his own bedroom in the big house. It caught him off guard, he can’t remember a time he hadn’t slept communally or had slept under four walls and a roof. He accepted with a grunt and a swig of beer, but that first night in his room ended up being the worst nights he had in a long time. He put whiskey in his coffee that morning.

Balancing a mixed pot of PTSD, anger issues, alcoholism, and the crippling need to end up like anyone but your father is hard work on its own. Having his life flipped upside down didn’t make it any easier, but he got used to it eventually. Got used to hearing the usual snoring muffled through walls, hearing quiet footsteps on hardwood outside his door, staring at his few possessions out for him to see instead of hidden in a suitcase by his bedroll. Out of all the new experiences they were having in their new home, getting the dogs was his favourite. The boy had his dog Cain, and the mutt followed them halfway across the U.S just to sleep at the kid’s feet. Bill couldn’t help but feel a kinship with him. Loyalty was all that mattered, and he had followed Dutch all the way here just the same hadn’t he? 

-

Hosea, Arthur, Bill, and Charles went to get a few head of cattle for the ranch. Bessie’s brother had sold all his livestock for travel money, and they had pastures to fill. Hosea and Strauss did the numbers, and taking into account the other animals they planned to buy they could afford to buy 20 cows to fill up the biggest of the pastures. Honestly, Bill was only there to help out with the herding and make sure their saddlebags didn’t get robbed, so he stayed back with the horses while the others made their way into the livestock fair. Needless to say, it was quite a surprise when they walked back out to find Bill practically buried in a pile of squirming puppies. Now Bill Williamson was never one to beg, but he sure did put up a stink about how they would need a couple of herding dogs and guard dogs for the ranch, and this guy needed the unexpected litter of pups off his hands, and “god forbid I ever suggest we do a good deed.”. Nevermind the fact that none of them were trained and it would be months before they were old enough to do any sort of work. 

It was quite the mess getting six 4 week old collies home along with 20 cows, the poor things essentially had to be stuffed in saddlebags and held in the men’s arms for the ride home. Luckily they were small enough that they didn’t seem to mind too much, and they were certainly well loved on by everyone else when they finally got home. Hosea made it very clear to Bill that his new job at the ranch would be training the pups into proper work dogs. He didn’t complain one bit, and the longer he spent with the sweet little things, the more everyone else seemed to realize that Bill Williamson hardly got angry anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors note explaining what happened because i didnt really get that across the way i tried to. the gist of it is that bill has severe PTSD and being in the gang only exacerbated it, unbeknownst to him. The way his life went from abuse, to the army, to homelessness, to crime just seems like it would leave behind a myriad of issues. he had no time to heal after being in the military, he just went from shooting to shooting to more shooting. And I’m not saying the dogs are like therapy dogs because they’re puppies and idk how therapy dogs work, but I think that having a stable life and something to look forward to and a lack of murder and death would contribute to a lot of mental healing. And training the dogs would also be something for him to focus on as his life readjusted. So yeah sorry that didn’t come across in the writing, im a new author and I’m bad at it. Also i dont claim to know anything about PTSD which is why my references to it in the story are so vague
> 
> SO IN CONCLUSION ranch life is good for bills mental health whether he knows it or not


	13. Dogs of the Ranch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous asked:
> 
> PLEASE PLEASE ELABORATE ON THE DOGS. WHAT KIND OF DOGS ARE THERE??? HOW MANY?? DO THEY GET LOTS OF LOVE FROM EVERYONE???

  * They have 9 dogs altogether. 7 of them are herding dogs and don’t live in the house, Rufus and Cain do live in the house but Cain absolutely cannot herd. Rufus isn’t bad at it tho.
  * The 7 that don’t live in the house are comfortable don’t worry. They all live in a separate portion of the stable with absolute free range to come and go from it. Furthermore the stable is watertight and insulated for the horses anyway so they aren’t cold or anything
  * They have 6 border collies and a Bernese mountain dog that was a rescue. 
  * The collies are all from one litter, bought cheap at an auction from someone who didn’t mean for their dog to have a litter.
  * They are excellent at their jobs. They are absolutely loved. The boys’ names are Bones, Carver, Gravedigger, and Pickpocket. The girls’ names are Dreamer and Legend.
  * The Collies were named by Jack, Sadie, Tilly, Karen and Mary Beth when they were first brought home.
  * The Bernese Mountain Dog was one of Charles rescue animals and her name is Mia
  * For this reason, Mia imprinted on Charles like a baby duck and is always begging to be in his cabin and follows him around when she’s not doing her job.




	14. Cats of the Ranch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous asked:
> 
> I need to know about the barn cats for emotional support reasons

It started with one really. They were having a bit of a mice issue and figured what better to deal with it than a little hunter. The plan was to ask around, see if anyone had some to sell, but one kinda fell into their laps. Lenny, Mary-Beth, and Hosea had taken a little trip into town. There was a beautiful old bookshop they were headed to, looking to spend a bit of their new earnings on some novels. After spending far too long in the bookshop, they were heading to the general store for supplies.

When they were nearly there, there was a commotion across the street. They watched as the barkeep of the saloon chased a scrappy looking cat out of his bar with a broom. Without thinking, Mary-Beth ran to defend the poor animal. She’s always been quick, and she managed to scoop up the fleeing feline before it could get underneath the porch of the general store.  
The angry barkeep stormed up to her broom in hand, and Lenny and Hosea took a protective stance directly behind her. “That your cat, girl?”

The brunette responded with just as much venom. “Yes she is and I don’t appreciate you beating her like that, she ain’t done nothing wrong!”

She glared right back at him, and he looked offended that she would dare to speak against him. “She was sitting on my goddamned bar! Keep your animal in check, next time I ain’t gonna be so nice.”

Lenny bristled, and nearly pushed the man from where he was getting so close, but Hosea held him back before he could. “Now there’s no need for all this ruckus, we’re taking the cat away now. Come now Mary-beth, we had better get her home.”

The barkeep was still red-faced with anger but didn’t say more as the small group walked away. They got to the porch of the general store, and Hosea was about to address Mary-Beth when an old woman sitting on the bench outside spoke up.

“Now you don’t mind old Larry, he’s nothing but an angry bastard.” She said, putting down her knitting on her lap.” That your cat there, young lady? I could have sworn she was the stray that’s been running ‘round here since the springtime…”

Mary-Beth flushed at the slight chastising tone in the elderly woman’s voice, but she just laughed. “Don’t worry girl, I’m just glad someone is looking out for her. Are you going to keep her?”

Mary-Beth turned to Hosea with the biggest puppy dog eyes. “Please Hosea, she’s all alone! And we need a cat to take care of the mice, let me bring her home!”

Hosea laughed kindly at her pleading. “Now how could I say no when you ask so nicely. Come on Lenny, it seems we will be getting the supplies ourselves since miss Gaskill has her arms full.” Lenny just laughed along and followed the older man in.

Mary Beth nearly followed him when the older woman stopped her. “Now don’t go bringing her in there, they’ll have your head for bringing an animal inside. Come, sit by me while you wait on your father.”

Mary-Beth didn’t bother to correct her as she sat on the small bench. The cat had begun to calm down, now focused on aggressively sniffing Mary-Beth’s perfume scented curls. “We needed a barn cat, she’s quite the little blessing!”

The old woman smiled kindly. “She’ll be good at her job, she’s been killing mice ‘round here for months.”

Mary-Beth and the woman conversed for a while as the men got supplies. It was nice to make conversation with the locals, it wasn’t a pleasure they really had back in her outlaw days. Never without a motive at least. The men walked out and they each said their goodbyes to the sweet old lady and headed back to the wagon. By now the cat was completely calm, just enjoying the scratching and petting from her saviour.

Mary-Beth reluctantly handed her to Lenny while she climbed into the back of the wagon, and when Lenny carefully placed the tabby in the wagon as well it immediately went and laid beside the girl. It was a calm ride home, and everyone was happy to see that they had found an answer to their mouse problem, and an adorable one at that.

-

In Mary-Beth’s defence, she had no way of knowing the cat was pregnant. 

She hadn’t been so round when they picked her up, but now a few weeks later she was looking ready to pop. She had become quite the spoiled cat in her time at the ranch, but she had no interest in actually staying in the ranch house. She spent a lot of time exploring the property, and some of the gang were a little worried she might just run off. Luckily she stuck around, taking a particular liking to the loft above the barn.

To everyone’s surprise, Molly was practically the cat’s biggest fan. She had cats back in Ireland and had liked them since she was a little girl. Whenever she saw the pregnant tabby she would give her a little treat, or pet her until the feline got bored. The redhead was a little sad that the cat didn’t seem to spend much time inside the ranch house, but in a way, it encouraged molly to go outside herself. She was the one to find out the cat was giving birth. They all knew she was close and each member was a little worried about finding a litter of newborn kittens in their beds, but the only one hoping to be there when it happened was Molly.

She hadn’t seen the cat in nearly two days and she was worried. She asked around, and nobody had seen the feline. Eventually, she recruited Jack, Mary-Beth, and Tilly to help her look for the cat properly. After nearly two hours of searching, Jack burst into the main house and grabbed Molly by the hand to drag her outside. He was speaking a mile a minute, but the moment she heard the word ‘Kittens’ she was running to keep up with the boy. When she got to the barn, she saw Kieran climbing down from the loft. He had been working in the barn at the time and climbed up to help the girls look, and found the healthy litter with their mother.

She had 6 little kittens, each of the suckling from their mother in the straw. Kieran explained as much and one at a time each of the girls climbed up to take a look. They were all surprised when Molly climbed the ladder, but she was determined to get a look at the babies. As she sat among the straw, gazing at the squirming babies she called down to the others. “Will they be alright up here? It’s so cold…”

Eventually, they decided that when the kittens opened their eyes properly they would try and move the little nest into the main house to be watched properly. After helping Jack take a look, Molly very carefully climbed back down the ladder and followed the others into the house once more.

A few weeks later, there were kittens roaming the whole ranch. It took a little getting used to for some, trying not to let them get underfoot, but it was nice. They had all taken to calling the mother ‘Mama’, and Jack had named nearly all the kittens after spices from the herb garden. One of them, however, Molly named. It was a stark white kitten that she had her eye on from the start. It acted a little different from the others and the mother always had an eye on it. Eventually, they determined that the white kitten was deaf, though that didn’t stop him from rolling with his siblings just the same. Molly had been enamoured with it from the start, spoiling it and carrying it around. She named him Shamrock and called him her lucky little prince. He ended up being the most spoiled cat of the bunch and followed Molly around the house like it was his job. The moment she sat anywhere, he was in her lap. His fur grew to be long as his mother’s, and Molly brushed it often. Not to say she didn’t also brush the other cats as often as they would let her, but Shamrock was the only one who seemed to enjoy it rather than just tolerate it.

  * Dutch is not a fan of Shamrock. He does not appreciate that he’s basically stealing his girl. The cat also does not like Dutch, he literally growls at the man when he leans over to kiss Molly. It’s very funny.
  * The other kittens are Yarrow, Mint, Basil, Sage, and Mushroom. Yarrow is a near copy of her mother, just smaller. Mint and Basil are nearly identical orange longhair Tabby’s, both male. Sage is a grey tabby but she has short fur. Mushroom is solid grey.
  * Jack named them, it was right around the time Charles and Hosea were making the Herb garden and teaching the boy about different plants. The boy is mushroom’s favourite. The grey cat almost acts like a dog, wrestling with Cain and climbing all over Jack. They go on adventures, the three of them, like a little team.
  * Yarrow is the best hunter, just like her mom. She’s particularly great at catching birds, when she got bigger she actually took down a few crows in the garden.
  * Sage is a menace. She can get into anyone’s home somehow and will climb all over their stuff. It drives Grimshaw absolutely crazy.
  * Mint and Basil can only be told apart by Mint’s one white sock and the white tip of Basil’s tail.




	15. The Spice Garden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous asked:
> 
> ooh can you tell us more about the herb garden in the ranch au?

  * Because the Herb garden is not something they are aiming to make a profit off, it’s not huge. It is still pretty big though because they’re using it for food and medicine for so many people.
  * It’s set up how a backyard box garden is, but for herbs. Hosea and Susan were worried about the herbs overgrowing each other so they built them in boxes, each box is 3x3 feet. The other good thing about them being in boxes is that they can have their separate needs attended to. 
  * For example, the hummingbird Sage needs to be watered more often than the Desert sage to survive, and the Indian tobacco needs more direct sunlight than the blackcurrant, etc.
  * It’s all set up surrounding a big tool shed. The boxes are placed adjacent to the wall, according to how much sunlight they will need. 
  * The garden was originally Hosea and Charles’s idea, for the medicinal herbs and Susan agreed, but also added certain herbs to flavour food. They try to grow more than they need and then dry out the extra for the off-seasons. 
  * They had a few pest issues. Rabbits were dealt with by getting barn cats, (originally to ward off rats but it was a welcome benefit), Snails with eggshells, etc etc.
  * Charles is the one who built and installed the boxes, and this was one of the little projects that Jack was allowed to help out with. A couple of the nails are a little crooked but it adds character and Jack was mighty proud of himself. 
  * They don’t grow mint because the property actually has a big chunk of mint growing right near the porch that they are constantly having to cut back. 
  * Eventually, Susan wants to figure out how to start a Tea garden. Herself, Strauss and a few others enjoy the odd cup of tea instead of coffee, and it might be nice to be able to grow it themselves instead of buying it at the store.




	16. Gang Hobbies Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Dutch/Hosea/Arthur/Abigail/Kieran/Molly)

Dutch: Let's be honest, I sincerely doubt Dutch took up anything more than he already does. He may enjoy decadence but I can't imagine him as the type to blow money on a hobby that relates to it. Probably considers sitting in his office pouting over petty arguments a hobby. He collects more books, but that pales in comparison to that of Mary Beth or Hosea. He collects more records than he does books. They're so fragile that he didn't pick up many when they were still travelling, but now that he can store them safely he has started collecting more and more. Slowly he has been branching out into other genres and artists, but mainly stays within the classical region. After a few years, he probably has upwards of a hundred in his collection. Some of them he only likes a song or two on but he would never throw them away. Some of them are favourites of Mollys that he keeps for her to play when she’s in the mood. The record player in their room regularly accompanies slow dancing in their shared bedroom when he’s feeling romantic.

-

Hosea: When the gang moved into Bessie's old home, there were hundreds of books there already, and Hosea has been working through the ones he thought were interesting. He regularly commandeers Dutch’s office since the man doesn't actually use it for any work that would require an office, and does actual work there. For a long while after they move to the ranch, he doesn't spend much time inside the actual house. It's so full of things that remind him of Bessie and it made it hard to stay inside too long, it was just too fast. Luckily there’s plenty of work to do outside and Hosea refuses to sit around doing nothing like some people want to do. Many of the books inside related to the different things needed to run a ranch, and he read those first so they would know what to do and how to do it. None of these are really hobbies per say, but I don't see Hosea as the hobby type. One of the few he engages in now are fishing at the pond on the property, or going on the odd hunting trip when they can. The actual hunting is a much more enjoyable activity when you're not doing it to feed 20 hungry people, when it's just an activity to enjoy with your son. 

-

Arthur: His journals are filling up faster than ever, despite the fact that there's less adventure to be had. Running a ranch with a group of former outlaws is an adventure of its own as far as that goes, and the act of journaling is still the way he gets out his thoughts and emotions in a healthy way. Now however he finds himself with more time to spend drawing. Now if he finds that he wants to sit and draw the horizon exactly as he sees it, then he has the time to do so. However, he does spend a good chunk of his time when he isn't working, just walking around and seeing if anyone else needs anything. Old habits are hard to break. 

-

Abigail: After they got settled into the ranch, Abigail bashfully asked Hosea if he would teach her how to read as well, so she could keep up with her son as he began to learn. She took to it like a fish to water, catching on quickly. When she learned, she found that she greatly enjoyed reading. More specifically she liked learning in general. Learning new skills and information in such a non-survival situation was a luxury she hardly had in her life. But now that Jack had many many babysitters and a safe home, and she had more free time than ever, she found herself wanting to learn. Once she knew how to read, she picked up so many different books but found her favorites were educational type books. She read sewing catalogues, ranching magazines, cooking books, anything that would teach her new skills and techniques. And though she still can't cook, and some of those sewing techniques were a little too fancy for her mending, she enjoyed learning all the same.

-

Kieran: Surprisingly, Kieran picked up leatherwork. There was a leatherworking kit in the barn when they arrived and he found it, and figured out what it was for. Then there was a book on leatherworking in the study that Hosea found and gave to him, and he took to the work. It took a while, but over time he got very skilled. Having a relaxing hobby was a bit of a foreign concept to many of the gang members and Kieran is no stranger to that. Of course, he enjoyed fishing as did many others at the ranch, but leatherwork was different. It was hard work that he didn't do out of fear of becoming obsolete, and when his hands hurt he felt satisfied with the pain. Knowing it came from good work that he enjoyed doing made the slight twinge in his fingers a blessing. Eventually, he learned to make his own tack, and the first saddle he ever made was his pride and joy. 

-

Molly: She has a fantastic eye for decorating. She’s amazing at working with what they had and what they could afford, making the Ranch house look established and beautiful early on. She tries to keep wildflowers in most of the rooms, even if she has to go pick them herself. She found these beautiful little jewelry boxes in storage and with Hosea's permission eagerly shared them with the other girls, so now each of them has a nice place for their sparse amounts of jewelry. She’s also quite the haggler. She has a talent for getting storekeepers to sell her tons of stuff for cheap just because they're kinda scared of the woman yelling at them in an accent they can hardly understand while 3 very large men stand behind her. Because of this skill, she got brand new kitchenware to replace the broken ones in the kitchen, and the guy threw in a hand-painted china teapot for practically free, and they didn't even need a new one. She found out about this skill by accident, Dutch had taken her into town to buy a new mirror to replace the one that broke and she hadn't liked the way the man running the store tried to speak to her. It was clear he thought she was stupid, and willing to fall for anything he might claim is a “deal”. Dutch was MIA over at a display of pocket watches, so she handled it herself, and the man practically handed over the mirror for nothing. At some point, every gang member gets the pleasure of witnessing her skill and is each in awe.


End file.
